Commentary: Tree's bad habits are a thorny topic

Too often we discover bad habits of trees years after the trees are in the ground — too late to do much about the bad habits, in other words. Sometimes we inherit the problems when we purchase a different home. Many bad habits of trees don’t start showing up for years after planting. The nuisance cotton from cottonwoods doesn’t begin for six or seven years on most trees. I planted Aralia spinosa because it is sort of a novelty that was fun to show off to visitors and my grandchildren. I could have lived with the thorns but another bad habit of Aralia spinosa is its propensity to sucker. More than a dozen new shoots had begun popping up in a 10-foot circle around the original tree. At the rate the tree was suckering, it would have created an impenetrable forest of thorny tree trunks in a couple more years. Now I’ll probably be removing suckers for years to come. One of the most frustrating bad habits of trees is poor branching structure, which generally means narrow, v-shaped crotches. Narrow, v-shaped branch unions are not as strong as U-shaped (more rounded) branch unions. As the branch grows and adds weight, this tight crotch is more susceptible to wind shear. When the branch breaks in a storm, it tends to rip out a wide vertical section of the trunk, which severely weakens the tree. Freeman maples (Acer x freemanii) have become very popular landscape trees because of their beautiful fall color. One of the most popular Freeman maples is ‘Autumn Blaze.’ I planted my Autumn Blaze about 15 years ago and it’s now more than 40 feet tall. I didn’t pay attention to the narrow-crotch branching habit of Autumn Blaze until several years after it was in the ground. By then, the branches on this fast-growing tree were already high up in the canopy and difficult to prune. I like red oaks but I’ve decided they should only be planted where they have lots of shoulder room to grow horizontally, rather than be shoe-horned into a tight landscape and forced to grow straight up to claim their share of sunlight. A red oak that can grow wide is a beautiful thing, but a red oak that can only grow vertically produces little more to appreciate than a bare trunk. A homeowner once called me, asking if I knew any oak species that didn’t bear acorns. I said I thought every oak species pro-duced acorns. As an afterthought, I asked what he had against acorns.

Devil's Walking Stick « Red Garden Clogs

Last fall my friend gave me a “garden warming” present of a shrub that she noticed I had liked when we visited a nursery together.  At the time, it was about 4 feet tall and have lovely dark berries on it.  I had been asking about shade-tolerant shrubs, and the nursery owner pointed toward the “shady zone” where I noticed this shrub.

Aralia spinosa , lost all of it leaves and I honestly couldn’t tell if it was living or going dormant or what.  I did a little research and although I wasn’t 100% positive I was supposed to, I pruned it down – pretty much all the way to ground, leaving just an inch or two above the soil so that I could see where it was planted.

This Spring it came up in full force, and actually it appears to have two main “stalks.”  I cannot believe how much it has grown and how full it has leafed out.

I’m a little afraid because the info I’ve found on the internet suggest that I’ve got myself a real TREE, here, with the possibility of it growing up to 20′ tall.  Yikes.  If this year’s growth is any indication of just how quickly this thing can move, I believe it.

Perhaps if I prune it to the ground each year that will keep it in check?  I’ll see what it does this year and think about if I need to move it to another spot or not.  I’m hoping it will produce those lovely berries this fall and that they might be appealing to birds.

Hard to tell from the photo, but it’s at least 3′ tall and easily 3′ in diameter.

It didn’t flower at all this spring, just went straight to leafing out.  Our garden areas are relatively small, so I’m a bit worried about this one taking up too much space or competing with other things I’ve planted.

Some of the leaves have an unusual or irregular pattern…

This is definitely one to watch this year.  I’m curious to see how much more it will grow and whether or not the birds like the berries.  Garden space is at a premium here, so I feel that a plant really  has to prove itself to be worthy of taking up the space here!  Right now I appreciate the quick, lush growth and show of green in an area that not a whole lot of other plants could tolerate because it is so darn shady.  We shall see, Devil’s Walking Stick….we shall see!